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When the Ottawa RedBlacks launch their full merchandise line, they'll find out if plaid is cool.

A plaid lumberjack look, one that their mascot will wear, could be a huge part of the RedBlacks' apparel line.

It will be wonderfully unique. Just imagine a couple of thousand fans wearing plaid in the stands.

Look for the merchandise, along with the team's home and away jerseys, to be trotted out sometime early in May, perhaps at a fashion show.

"We don't have anything set in stone," said OSEG Sports president Jeff Hunt. "But May 10, in that range, is when we believe we'll do it."

So what about the checkered look ... the plaid?

"We're looking at where we can go with that," said Hunt. "That lumberjack look, that plaid, is popular with young people. It's unique and it sort of fits with the whole history of what we're trying to do -- with the sawblade, with Ottawa as a logging town. To work on merchandise items or lines that incorporate some of that would probably be a good thing that would be well received.

"I'm amazed, when I show that stuff to my 18-year-old son and 20-year-old daughter, they love it. It is retro, it is old-fashioned. They look good. For whatever reason, it connects with younger people. If my uncle in the 1960s or '70s would have worn that type of jacket, he'd look like a guy who needed a wardrobe upgrade. But now, it has a cache."

OK, what about the jerseys?

"They're a modern jersey," said Hunt. "They reflect the modern CFL. I wouldn't categorize it as traditional. When we launch our jerseys, we need to have jerseys for fans. When we roll them out, we want to be able to instantly to have a quantity of them for our fans."